An Advertisement for Blocking

If anyone ever needed to be convinced of the near-magical properties of blocking one's knitting, this photo might help do the trick:

On the left you see the "before" picture--a placemat-to-be prior to blocking--looks more like a dishcloth, right? On the right you see the results of a warm bath, some blocking pins, and some serious elbow grease (this was aggressive blocking by necessity--more on that to come in a future post).

It's no secret that I've been frustrated by knitting lately . . . and this set of placemats is a big part of the reason. Again, I'll explain all in a future post, as soon as the last placemat is finished blocking and I can get some pictures of the full ensemble. I'm happy with the results, but the actual knitting was more of a trial than it should have been.

I've also started a new project that I think will help me turn the corner and get excited about knitting again . . . more on that to come.